This invention relates to healing of tissue such as bone, and more particularly to a new and improved method and apparatus for providing healing treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
One area of use of the present invention is providing healing treatment of rheumatoid arthritis at the bone joint, although the principles of the present invention can be variously applied. A conventional treatment for rheumatoid arthritis is the taking of gold salts by mouth over a period of months. By such treatment an attempt is made to build up the systemic level of gold in the body up to about one gram. The results sometimes are spectacular, but the treatment sometimes also is ineffective and severe side effects are often seen. Accordingly, the treatment usually is reserved for a last resort effort and is used when other less traumatic treatments fail.
It would, therefore, be highly desirable to provide a method and apparatus for treating rheumatoid arthritis which can concentrate the gold at the arthritic joint and avoid raising the systemic level of gold to prevent side effects.